[Riyadh 18th Reuters]-Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister Jadaan said in an interview with Reuters that Saudi Aramco's oil facility attack on the weekend had no impact on revenues, and the company's initial public offering (IPO) plan The idea of promoting However, this year's economic growth rate is expected to be significantly lower than expected due to a reduction in production led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Jadean said that the attack on Aramco's facilities was “no impact on revenue,” “Aramco will continue to supply the market without delay, so revenue will continue without problems.”
Abdul Aziz Energy Minister also recovered the production of 5.7 million barrels a day lost in the attack the previous day, and the production capacity will be 11 million barrels a day by the end of September and 12 million barrels by the end of November. The prospect of reaching.
Jadaan's finance minister stressed Aramco “shows clearly the resilience of Saudi Arabia and the company's ability to deal with these incidents.”
Westbeck Capital Management, on the other hand, pointed out in a customer note that "Saudi leadership is the only option to show the impact of the attack smallly because it does not show weakness in the country." He said that advancing the Aramco IPO as planned would also lead to a sense of calm.
Jadaan said that Saudi gross domestic product (GDP) is heavily dependent on crude oil and will be affected by OPEC-led collaborative production cuts, and the economic growth rate for 2019 will be "significantly below our expectations." It was.
The finance minister did not show a specific growth rate forecast for 1919, but the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (Central Bank) has stated that it will fall below 2% so far. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to slow down from 1.9% to 2.2% in the previous year. Some economists view that there is a possibility of negative growth.
However, Jadaan said, “We are paying close attention to GDP other than crude oil,” and forecasted that the GDP growth rate excluding crude oil will be 2.9% this year.
He points out that Aramco's IPO plan is progressing as planned and is likely to be realized within the next year. The Saudi stock exchange (Tadaul) in Riyadh is said to be the main listed destination, but in addition to this, listing in foreign markets is still being considered.
